So I finally made up my mind and, although no one else followed, I went downtown on Wednesday to see Animal Collective live in Gagarin 205. The band was set to go live at 21.00 (a bit earlier than initially announced due to an early flight they had to catch), but nevertheless they finally came out around 22.00 (as originally planned). Prior to them, onstage was a quite dull solo violin-keys-electro act that thankfully quickly vanished 10 minutes after I arrived.

Prior to the band’s appearance, I set myself in the front row (unfortunately just opposite of the speakers) while the place was slowly filling up (although nowhere near a full house). Finally, Avey Tare, Geologist and Panda Bear made their appearance on stage and immediately started tweaking their (hi-tech) equipment. Everything was ready and Panda and quickly set the pace on their samplers while GeologistAveycontinued to tweak even more buttons and pedals. It took a few minutes before their music finally settled in and along with Avey’s distorted lyrics at first and Panda Bear’s howls later on, the Animal Collective sound was finally at full scale.

I have to be honest, I really enjoyed the music and easily got into the Colletive’s reverie but I always felt something was missing. Perhaps it was Avey’s and Geologist’s stage appearance (the first kept on tweaking and fixing different equipment and pedals all the time while Geologist [with his headlamp] reminded me a bit of Orbital) that let me down. On the other hand, Panda Bear was a real joy, especially when he left the keys/samplers and got onto the drums. I guess that was the highlight of the concert for me, when on the second-to-last track Avey finally reached for his guitar and Panda Bearecstatically pounded the drums. A 10-minute frenzy that finally awaken the crowd and made the whole night worth it. And that was basically it, with just a small 5-minute encore which naturally wasn’t enough. A not-that-bad live from which we expected a bit more and also reaffirmed most people’s thoughts (or at least mine’s) that the real driving force behind the band is increasingly becoming Panda Bear (especially after last year’s acclaimed Person Pitch)

PS. Yet again I forgot my camera so I had to settle with crappy pics and vids from my mobile phone.

Animal Collective are coming to Athens this Wednesday 22nd of October at Gagarin. I certainly want to attend but once again I will decide on this at the last minute. Nevertheless, especially after last year's stunning Strawberry Jam, this seems like a really promising live. See ya (probably) there..

Talkdemonic is a post rock/experimental indie rock duo from Portland, Oregon, which combines folk, rock and symphonic music in a unique instrumental journey. The band (Lisa Molinaro on viola and cello and Kevin O’Connor on drums, synths, guitars and everything else) has been together since 2002 and have already released three LPs (Mutinysunshine in 2004, Beat Romantic in 2006 and Eyes at Half Mast in 2008) and an EP (Tour in 2005). Their latest offering, Eyes at Half Mast, was just released, September 16, on Arena Rock label. Their sound swiftly crosses different genres, from pure post rock to electronic and even more classical instrumental areas. Elements of folk are blended with rock and even trip hop (better known as folktronic hop) in the smoothest of compositions that allow minds to travel and souls to soother. A delightful change from other noisier (although we love those too) post rock choices out there, Talkdemonic have managed to produce yet another set of inimitable compositions. Check them out…

Everyone has been posting about Mogwai’s latest album, which while it’s not all that bad, it hasn’t won me over yet (and don’t think it will since it doesn’t progress their sound at all). So instead, I decided to post about another post rock band coming from the other side of the world, Japan’s Miaou.Miaou were formed in 1999 by Tatsuki Hamasaki and sisters Mayumi and Hiromi Hasegawa. They released their debut Happiness back in 2003 and followed up with Make These Things Alright in 2005. Finally, a couple of months ago they released their third album titled All Around Us back in July. To me, this may be more interesting to check out than Mogwai’s latest addition.Miaou’s stlye will at first bring bands like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky and Tortoise in mind but their style is much brighter and optimistic. If you add the introduction of electronic elements (especially after their second album) in their music, you will soon see how this Japanese band stands out from the crowd by slowly building their personal style in the post rock arena. I think I’ve left out the Japanese scene here in Athens66 but it’s about time we started to pay a bit more attention to it (especially Tokyo’s rock scene) during the next few months. Miaou are certainly one of the best places to start…

I was able to sustain my Swedish streak for more than a week now, but (while I'll return) this comes to an end today due to a track that's been haunting me the last few days. Ever since elafini posted Emiliana Torrini's new song Gun from her latest album Me and Armini, it's been constantly playing on my player and in my mind. Once you hear the eager-to-explode reverb riff and the femme fatale lyrics you'll more than agree with me on this. So good, that not only did I put my Swedish tribute aside, I also made a video for the track (since none existed) by mixing it up with Shinya Tsukamoto's classic Bullet Ballet. From Swedento Iceland with a taste of Japan...

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Athens66 started off as a common project by a bunch of friends but quickly turned into almost a personal blog (although some remains of previous posts can still be found). Currently, the Team has been narrowed down to two members, who besides being old friends and schoolmates share the same joy for Music, Movies, Alcohol and Pro Evolution sessions.

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